Cain says no more to sex harassment allegation queries

Confronted with questions about sexual harassment allegations against him, Herman Cain clashed with reporters here and stopped himself short of providing any additional information on the controversy.

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The issue did not come up at all during the 90-minute Saturday night debate with Newt Gingrich, sponsored by a local tea party group. But reporters after the event began asking him about the reports of his inappropriate behavior at the National Restaurant Association — and Cain initially dismissed them, saying, “Don’t even go there.”

An event organizer with the Texas Patriots PAC, Gena Cook, also tried to shut the questions down, saying, “No, no gossip.”

When asked again why he would not answer questions on the topic, Cain still refused to answer, referring the reporters in question to his chief of staff, Mark Block.

Another reporter jumped in asking if he could pose a “good” question of Cain, about his potential relationship with Congress as president.

After Cain answered that question, his staff and event organizers attempted to usher him out of the room.

Finally, Cain stopped, as if he was going to respond to those asking about the scandal.

“If you all just listen for 30 seconds, I will explain this one time,” he said, getting cut off by Cook, who said it was time for him to leave.

“You see what I mean? I was gonna do something that my staff told me not to do and try to respond, okay? What I’m saying is this — we are getting back on message, end of story. Back on message. Read all of the other accounts. Read all of the other accounts where everything has been answered in the story. We’re getting back on message, okay?”